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Posted on January 13, 2020
by Nathan
Bible First
Meeting Our Students
For a long time, we have felt it would be a good idea to reach out to some of the Bible First students and try to meet them face-to-face. One such meeting finally happened, thanks to Serhii Chepara, who has been helping us run the Bible First course. He picked a city, Lutsk, set a time and place, and invited our students to meet with us.
We weren't really sure what to expect, but three of our students showed up, and we had a good time getting to know each other. They gave us some feedback on the course, what they liked, what could be improved, and we shared some of our plans for upcoming changes to the course.
Nothing earth-shattering happened at our meeting, but it was nice to put a name with a face, and we went home encouraged. We'd like to do the same thing with our students in other cities, perhaps starting with Rivne in the next month or two.
Left to right: Abby, Josh, Nathan, Serhii, Oleksander, Oksana, Lyuda, and one of Oksana and Lyuda's daughters.
Ukrainian Bible First
One of my main projects continues to be preparing the refreshed Ukrainian lessons for print. Fourteen lessons down, six more to go!
Bible First Online
Unfortunately, we didn't make our self-imposed December 31 deadline to begin using Bible First Online, but we're getting close! We haven't given ourselves a new deadline yet, but hopefully soon!
A New Team Member
Allow me to introduce the newest member of the team, Kade Bloom! Kade attended CMO 2019, and decided he wanted to come back and work with us full-time. His current plan is to stay for one year and see how things go, and his main goal for now is to learn the language.
Carpathian Mountain Outreach
It's the middle of January, and that means that CMO is just five months away! We haven't made the official announcement yet, but the info for CMO 2020 is up on the CMO website, and registration is open. I know of a lot of people that are interested, so apply ASAP before we run out of room!
Family
I'm happy to report that Lydia's eyes continue to improve, and it is looking very unlikely at this point that she will need a second surgery!
Now that Christmas is over, our family has finished our "month of celebrations", with Melissa and Briana's birthdays, and Christmas, of course. Now it's time to hunker down and hit the school books! We are still enjoying a warmer winter, which is nice for Jonathan, who plays outside almost every day. I'm sure the girls would like some more snow, however. At least we've had one good sledding snow so far, and I'm sure there are more to come!
Melissa opens one of her gifts.
Posted on November 30, 2019
by Nathan
There isn't a whole lot to report on in this update, but what we have been working on has kept us busy!
Bible First
Bible First Online
Josh and I are continuing to work hard on web development. We are cautiously optimistic that by the end of the year, our students will have the option of doing their lessons online. Still a lot of work to do, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!
Ukrainian Bible First
Bible First Online is going to be new and cool and shiny, but we don't want to forget our roots! I'm still in the process of checking over the second edition of Lessons 6-20, and making sure they are ready to print.
Family
On October 9th, our family moved to a new apartment. It was a lot of work to pack up, move, and then unpack, but we are really happy to have made the switch. The extra space and improved layout have made everyday life much more pleasant!
One of the highlights of the move (and also our saving grace!) was that my mom came for the three weeks around the move. Now that my youngest sister has her driver's license, Mom has more freedom to travel around, and she managed to work up the courage to attempt her first intercontinental trip. Thankfully, things went smoothly, and she was a huge help!
Mom, the girls, and I in the steeple of a church near our home.
In other family news, Jonathan is finally walking! Our girls all walked at about a year, but Jonathan took his sweet time and waited until he was 15 months. Unfortunately, no sooner did he learn to walk, he had to start wearing his snowsuit. Our warmer-than-average fall came to an abrupt halt recently, and hats, mittens, etc., are standard fare these days. But that's okay, as I'm sure Briana would tell you, because her birthday is in the winter!
Posted on September 14, 2019
by Nathan
Bible First
There are several Bible-First-related things to report on, so I'll break this up
into a couple groups:
Ukrainian Bible First
Lessons 1-5 of the second edition of Bible First in Ukrainian are currently at the printers. We were promised they would be ready
last week, so hopefully in the next couple days…? The next step will be to
check over Lessons 6-20, make sure they are ready to print, and get them off to
the printer.
Spanish Bible First
We finished going through the Spanish Bible First files, and made notes of
everything that needs to be fixed, but we are currently in a holding pattern
with printing prep. Our main Spanish guy, Ralph Villeneuve, is busy with school,
but hopes to work on the issues we found in a few months during his holiday
break.
Bible First Online
Now that we have recovered from CMO, Josh and I are dusting off our web-development
hats and getting ready for the next push on Bible First Online. Hopefully by the
end of the year, our students will have the option of studying online!
Family
Some of you may remember that two years ago, Katelin broke her foot. Well,
almost a month ago, she rolled her foot just like last time, it popped just like
last time, and started to swell just like last time. We went in for an X-ray,
but the doctors didn't feel like it was a complete break, likely just a crack.
We were told Katelin didn't need a cast, just to stay off of it for a while and
rest.
Sure enough, the recovery from this foot injury has been much faster. Last time,
at the three-week mark, Katelin was just getting her cast off. This time, she
was pretty much operational, albeit with some discomfort, and still taking it a
bit slower. For which, we are very thankful!
Both Lydia and Jonathan had birthdays recently!
One other big project we have coming down the pipe is a move to a new apartment.
We have found a new apartment that is a bit bigger, but more importantly, the
space is broken up in such a way as to be more usable. We will be making the
final arrangements this week, and hope to be moving in about a month. So if next
month's update is late, or gets skipped altogether, you'll know why!
Posted on August 17, 2019
by Nathan
Carpathian Mountain Outreach
CMO 2019 has been over for a little over a month now, but requests are still
coming in! Over the past month, we've received a little over 40 requests for
Good and Evil and Bible First. Pray for the literature going out, that it would
be read and understood.
Bible First
Now that we are (mostly) recovered from CMO, we are pushing forward on new
fronts! We are preparing to print Bible First in not one, but two languages.
The first printing is a reprinting of Bible First in Ukrainian. The new edition
will feature a more modern design, more in line with the design of Bible First
in English. Some of the earlier lessons have also been revised, and those
revisions will finally make it into print. We have been wanting to do this for a
long time, but have never gotten around to making it happen.
The second printing will be in Spanish, which will be the first time the whole
Bible First course will be available in Spanish! Ralph Villeneuve recently
finished laying out the files for printing, and we are working through the
files, fixing bugs and working out all the things that will need to be in place
before we go to press.
Team News
Joshua and Kelsie had their baby almost month ago, and she is a cutie! Her name
is Mia, and our girls are looking forward to meeting her for the first time!
(For a while, we were dealing with a stomach flu bug, and had to keep our
distance. We are finally over it, though!)
Family
I've heard a lot about record heat this summer, but we have actually had a
cooler summer, and we've been enjoying it! That said, with the end of summer
comes school, and Katelin and the girls are back at it. Even Briana is getting
in on the action, with a bit of beginner's math! (It's mostly just for fun, as
she is only 3 1/2.)
Briana enjoys one of the pretty summer days!
We recently celebrated Jonathan's first birthday. He is a big, happy boy who loves to
go and do, and he keeps us on our toes. Lydia's birthday will be soon, it's hard
to believe that she will be seven! These kids are growing up on us!
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